Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-31
WORK OF THE ELEMENTS.

How Dame Nature Has Punished Too
 Daring Man.
 The list of disasters that were solely due to the winds and the waves and the floods during the year 1887 is long and most appalling one. It would, of course, be impossible in the space allowed in the present article to mention all, even of the important elemental accidents of the year. But those most important are given such prominence as can be allowed them. The two most terrible were the Riviers. earthquake in France and Italy and the floods of the Hoang Ho in China. Nothing approaching the former has been recorded since the terrible Java earthquakes. The latter has not been approached at all in modern times.
 JANUARY. 8. Twenty men drowned by wreck of ship Eliza beth off Virginia coast.
 14 English steamship Crombrook, with twen- weight men given up for lost. Liverpool bark Craigher given upsfor lost with fifteen men.
 FEBRUARY. 3. Great suffering from snow ice and floods. and some loss of life in the northwest. 3. Tornado in Ohio. General severe storms passed over center of the state. B. Four hundred people killed by earthquakes at Nice, France, and along the Italian Riviera. 24 Earthquake shocks in Riviera. Two thou sand killed. 20 Terrible floods in Dakota and on the Mis- Souri river. a .. 2S Loss of schooner Marcus A. Dorr and crew. 30. Two thousand passengers snow bound in New Brunswick and Quebec blockade on Inter- colonial railway, Canada.
 APRIL
 12 Prairie fires in the west, floods in eastern and middle states
 9. Coast of Australia experiences severe storms; $50 persons lost in forty pearl fishing boats.-KansaS and Missouri experience torna does.-FloodS in St. Lawrence river. 26. Flood in Ohio valley; several people drowned and much property damaged. 30. Floods in New England
 MAY. 3. The west experiences hurricanes.-Earth- quake in Mexico; several houses ruined; 15e people ekilled.-Founderng of steamer John Knox off Newfoundland; thirty lives lost. "a. 5. Floods in Maine sweep away houses and mills. ..."s 10. One hundred and twenty killed by earth quake shocks in Tuykestan.
 %. Severe storms in the Atlantic states. 9. The Merrimac overf1owed it's banks owing to heavy rains; considerable damage done.
 JULY.
 6. One hundred persons killed by landslide at Zug, Switzerland. 10. Sinking of yacht Mystery in Jamaica bay; twenty-Seven lives lost.
 r. Sicily visited by earthquakes and the erup- tion of Mount Etna. 31. Tidal wave struck steamer Umbria, doing great damage and killing two or three people.
 AUGUST.
 go. Great damage done by heavy gales off New. Foundland. Considerable loss of life reported
 SEPTEMBER.
 15 (About). The Hoang Ho (Yellow river) burst itc Ike in md doH fho,,c dc of square miles of territory. Many thousands were drowned, millions were made homeless, myriads perished from hunger. g. Four hundred houses destroyed by hurri- cane at Brownsville, Tex. Great damage done in Mexico.
 9. Severe storms on the Atlantic coast. 13. Washouts on Southern Pacific railroad in Arizona.
 OCTOBER.
 29 Propeller Vernon foundered off Manitowoc; forty drowned. Total loss of life from the ele- Elents in October on the great lakes, 139. There were in all 2S5 disasters the lakes in October too large list to think of presenting.
 NOVEMBER.
 During this month many shipwrecks, both on the sea and on the great lakes were reported. The loss of life considerable, but there were 1o single great disasters
 DECEMBER
 4. Earthquake at Calabria killed twenty per sons.
 9. Storms off the Orlzneys sink twenty fishing smacks.
 Earthquakes are still reported in Mexico. 12. British schooner Henrietta abandoned at sea IS. Destructive cyclone in the Indian territory. 20. Leary's big timber raft, from Nova Scotia for New York, lost off the New England coast. A few days later it broke up and the logs are now floating on the sea.
 20-4. News received of many shipwrecks. 2224. Blizzards of all degrees and much severe weather reported in the west, especially Kansas. 25. Christmas day-the first snow of any conse quence fell in New York